


a little small talk, a smile and baby i was stuck

by reindeerjumper



Category: Mamma Mia! (2008), Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again
Genre: Family Feels, Family Fluff, Fluff and Humor, M/M, SO MUCH FLUFF, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-15
Updated: 2018-08-15
Packaged: 2019-06-27 16:03:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15688755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reindeerjumper/pseuds/reindeerjumper
Summary: sophie's son is celebrating his fifth birthday. there's no way that his grandpas would miss it for the world.





	a little small talk, a smile and baby i was stuck

**Author's Note:**

> forewarning: this will probably give you cavities. i just couldn't rightfully let harry finish _another_ movie without the relationship he deserves. 
> 
> i took the idea of sophie's son being named donnie from [ this incredible tumblr post](https://couldnt-think-of-a-funny-name.tumblr.com/post/176433980675/there-needs-to-be-a-mamma-mia-3-because-there). i also snagged the title from abba's "lay all your love on me". 
> 
> i hope you enjoy :)
> 
> oh, also, not beta'd. all mistakes are mine.

Sophie stood on the balcony of the Hotel Bella Donna, her son straddling her hip as he munched happily on a nectarine. Her eyes were scanning the horizon, looking for any sign of a sailboat. 

Suddenly from behind, she felt a warm weight against her shoulder. 

“Any sign of them yet?” she heard Sam ask. 

Looking towards him, she smiled before shaking her head. “Not yet, but you know that Harry’s an absolute mess when it comes to being punctual.”

Sam laughed at this. 

“Mama!” a small voice cried out. “Mama, look!” 

Sophie followed the direction in which Donnie was pointing and couldn’t suppress the smile that spread across her face. Pulling into the cove was the familiar sight of Bill’s sailboat, the Swedish flag billowing proudly from the mast with a smaller British flag underneath it. The sailboat gleamed in the midday Greek sun, an impressive vessel bobbing atop the glitter of the sea. 

“It’s your grandpas!” she said excitedly. “Let’s go!” 

With Sophie and Donnie in the lead, the three made their way down the path to where the dock sat. The sailboat was still a few hundred meters from where it could anchor, but even from this distance, Sophie could make out the figure of Harry Bright, standing at the bow of the boat, waving enthusiastically. She raised her free hand, returning the greeting. She could make out a large yellow dog excitedly weaving around Harry’s feet as his hand continued to pump in the air. He was practically on his tiptoes, threatening to tilt straight into the waves below him.

“He looks good,” Sam said casually, waving next to Sophie. 

“He does, doesn’t he?” she replied, placing Donnie on the dock next to her. 

Sophie shielded her eyes from the sun, squinting into the distance. All of Harry’s other arrivals to the island involved a pair of perfectly pressed trousers and a white button-down. The shirt he wore now was white, but a far-cry from his usual well-tailored pieces. Instead, he was wearing a t-shirt, the cut of it snug against his lean body. Sophie could see Harry’s long, skinny legs poking out of a pair of scandalously short (well, scandalously short for Harry) salmon colored shorts. Even at a distance, she could tell that his hair was wild and free, the curls he usually tamped down with expensive-smelling product and a flat iron blowing in the sea breeze.

They watched as the sailboat drifted into the cove, and the unmistakable sound of an anchor dropping into the water echoed against the cliffs. Harry was still at the bow, both arms now pumping above his head as the bright white of his smile cut across his face. 

“Hello!” he called out. The dog next to him barked, his tail wagging against Harry’s thigh. 

“Hello, Harry!” Sam called out. “How was the trip?”

“Marvelous!” Harry yelled out, his grin getting even wider.

Suddenly, from behind Harry, Bill appeared. He waved to them, his dimple visible even from the boat. He looked relaxed as he looped his arm around Harry’s waist, his other hand casually waving back and forth in the air. He was wearing a blue linen button-down, his usual cuffed pants hitting him mid-calf. Harry dropped his arm around Bill’s shoulders, pulling him in almost imperceptibly. 

“Permission to come ashore!” Bill called out, sliding his free hand into his pants pocket.

“Permission granted, Captain,” Sam called back, putting his arm around Sophie’s shoulders. 

Sophie leaned into her stepfather, her arm finding its way along his lower back as she rested her head on his shoulder. She watched happily as Bill grabbed Harry’s hand and led him away from the bow of the boat.

“I’m glad they found each other,” she said to Sam. 

“I am, too. I know that Bill took the break-up with Rosie pretty hard, but everything happens for a reason.”

Sophie hummed in agreement as she watched Bill row the tiny boat from his sailboat to the dock. Harry sat across from him, a pair of sunglasses shielding his eyes from the sun as he grabbed ahold of the dog’s collar that sat in front of him.

“When did they get a dog?” Sophie continued, her eyebrows furrowing.

“Well, you know Harry’s other two were quite old. Thank god he had Bill around to help him pick up the pieces once they...y’know...died. From what I heard he was pretty devastated by it.”

“So did Bill buy him this one?”

“It wouldn’t surprise me.” Sam lifted his hand to scratch the back of his neck. “Bill doesn’t like to be tied down by things, but apparently Harry can make him see things differently.”

The small rowboat was quickly approaching the dock, and Sam unlooped his arm from Sophie’s shoulders to help tie it to the dock. Sophie grabbed her son’s hand, still sticky from the nectarine he had been eating, and walked him towards the edge of the boards. 

Eagerly, Harry hopped out of the boat and onto the dock. Not the most graceful of her fathers, he stumbled a bit before regaining his footing to launch himself towards Sophie and Donnie. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Bill fondly shaking his head. 

“Hello, my darlings!” Harry said brightly, coming towards them with his arms outstretched. He pulled Sophie into a bone crushing hug, planting a kiss against her cheek. Up close, he looked even better than he did from the boat. A beautiful tan covered his body, and the salt and pepper of his hair sparkled in the Grecian sun. 

“Hello, Harry!” she replied, returning the hug with just as much gusto. There was something comforting about the fact that he still wore his fancy cologne, but it was undershot by a strong note of the ocean. She kissed his cheek.

“And is this the birthday boy?” he continued, crouching down next to Sophie so he was eye level with Donnie.

The small boy shyly pressed his face against Sophie’s thigh, and she buried her fingers in his jet black curls. His coloring was so reminiscent of Sky’s, but Sophie could see bits of her mother in his smile and around his eyes. She laughed, bending down to take the boy’s hand and reintroduce him to Harry.

“Donnie, this is your grandpa. You remember him from FaceTime, right? Grandpa Harry?” She paused. “That  _ is _ what you want to be called, isn’t it?” she whispered to Harry.

Harry took his sunglasses off to get a better look at his grandson. His amber eyes flashed towards Sophie, and she felt an innate fondness swell in her chest for him.

“I was hoping for something a little more...catchy,” he admitted.

“It’s your name. You choose.”

“Bill will probably go for something Swedish and endearing,” he muttered under his breath. Sophie could see him tail spinning already, the weight of the choice laying heavily on his shoulders. 

“Harry, don’t overthink it,” Sophie said softly, putting her hand on his arm. 

Donnie, caught in the middle of their discussion, stepped forward and put both hands on either side of Harry’s face. Bewildered by the gesture, Harry’s rambling stopped short as he looked into his grandson’s eyes. Sophie watched as his face broke into a map of laugh lines, his smile larger than she’d ever seen it.

“Hello, Grandpa,” Donnie said. He smiled, and Sophie watched as Harry realized how similar it was to Donna’s.

“Hello, Donnie,” he said. “I hear it’s your birthday.” 

Her son took a step back and nodded, his smile still on his lips. “Did you bring me a gift?”

At this, they all started to laugh. The little boy looked to each of them in confusion before Harry scooped him off of the ground and up onto his shoulders.

“My dear boy, we brought you  _ many _ gifts, but sadly they’re still on the boat.” He looked up towards where Donnie was now perched, his little hands wrapped around Harry’s forehead as his feet dangled over his shoulders. “I promise you’ll get them as soon as we’re settled.”

Bill and Sam had made his way over to where they were standing, the dog bouncing around Bill’s feet. His face broke into a grin as he looked up at Donnie. 

“Well, hello there sailor,” he said. “Remember me?”

“This is Grandpa Bill. Well, I think that’s what we’re calling him. Is that what we’re calling you?” Sophie glanced toward her third father. 

“I was thinking ‘Granddude’ had a nice ring to it,” Bill replied, wrapping his arm around Sophie and pulling her into him. He kissed her on the temple before murmuring, “Hello, Soph.”

Sophie returned the embrace. “Granddude, huh?” she said, poking him playfully in the ribs. She could already see Harry’s face falling. 

“That isn’t Swedish at all,” Harry said, his brow furrowing. 

“I don’t really think  _ morfar _ sounds as cool as ‘Granddude,’” Bill replied, shrugging.

“That’s not the point. The point is that I settled for Grandpa, thinking you’d want to be  _ morfar _ .”

“Clearly we should have discussed this before Donnie could start talking,” Bill said with a sigh. He slipped his arm around Harry’s waist and gently kissed him on the cheek. 

It did nothing to wipe the frown from Harry’s face. 

“Granddude,” Donnie said from Harry’s shoulders. He let out a giggle. “I like that.”

“If it makes you feel any better, Harry, I’m Pappou,” Sam chimed in.

“It doesn’t make me feel any better,” Harry said with a frown. “That sounds exotic and fun.”

“The ladies in town called me Pappou before I could lay claim to anything else. It just stuck.”

Harry let out a small huff. He clearly had his knickers in a twist, and it seemed that there were very few things to snap him out of it. Sophie, Bill and Sam watched as his frown threatened to become a permanent fixture when Donnie reached down and yanked on Harry’s eyebrows.

“Grandpa, are you done being sad?” the little boy asked, leaning forward to get a better look as his grandfather’s face.

Like sunshine melting away ice, Harry’s entire face softened as a smile spread across his lips. 

“You know what, Don? I think I am.” He swung the boy off of his shoulders and onto the ground next to him before saying, “Why don’t you and I race to the top?”

Donnie’s whole face lit up as he nodded excitedly. 

“Alright then. On my count. One, two, thr--”

Before Harry could finish, the young boy took off at a full sprint, his laughter echoing off of the cliffs in the cove. Harry sputtered a bit before launching himself after Donnie, all long limbs and curly hair. 

Bill was now laughing openly, watching his lover tear after their grandson. 

“He’s been good for you, hasn’t he?” Sam said.

“I’d say we’ve been good for each other,” Bill replied. “He keeps me grounded, I keep him spontaneous.”

Sam hummed in agreement. “I’d say. I never thought I’d see the day that Bill Anderson sailed the world with a dog on his boat.”

Bill smiled sheepishly as he patted the dog’s side. “Well...you know, once Lucy finally kicked the bucket, Harry was pretty tore up about it. It was bad enough when Kipper went...I just wanted to do something nice for him. Pick his spirits back up.” He was rambling now, but it didn’t stop him. “I found Dynamo here in the papers when I was visiting Harry in London. He seemed like a good fit.” 

“Dynamo?” Sophie said, putting her arm around Bill’s waist.

“Yes...well…” He trailed off, smiling. “Harry and I owe a lot to the Dynamos.” He squeezed Sophie closer to him.

They started following Harry and Donnie, Sophie ensconced between two thirds of her paternal tribe. Her heart felt very full and safe between Bill and Sam. For not having a father for most of her life, the three men were making up for the absence tenfold. Sam was a steady constant on the island, and within the five years since Donnie made his appearance, Harry and Bill made sure that the they FaceTimed regularly. The only thing that could possibly make it any better would be Donna. 

A short distance ahead, they found Harry and Donnie sitting on a rock at the side of the path. Donnie was looking worriedly at Harry, who had his arms braced against his thighs as he breathed heavily. 

“I’ll be...right as...rain...in a second,” Harry huffed, ruffling his hand into Donnie’s curls. 

“Take your time, Grandpa,” Donnie replied. He looked up at the sound of the approaching group, and sprung up. “Mama, I think Grandpa might be dying.”

Bill and Sam exploded into laughter at the statement as Harry glared at them from the rock he was still recovering on. Sophie suppressed the laughter she felt bubbling in her chest as she knelt in front of her son.

“I don’t think Grandpa is dying, love,” she said, cupping his tanned cheek. “He’s just a little out of shape.” 

Sophie stood and took her son’s hand while her dads all fell into step beside her. Sam took Donnie’s other hand while Bill casually draped his arm across Harry’s shoulders. 

“It’s nice to see you embracing some spontaneity, Harry,” they heard Bill murmur. 

“Oh, piss off,  _ Granddude, _ ” he replied, the statement far from malicious.

Sophie smiled as she watched Bill kiss Harry’s cheek, causing an adorable flood of pink to cross Harry’s cheeks and ears. 

“I love you guys,” she said. 

All three heads swiveled in her direction, and in unison, they replied, “And we love you."


End file.
